Day 20: Standing Stones and Orkney Museum

Day 20: Standing Stones and Orkney Museum

Monday, 17 October 2016

Group 1 Summary

On the morning, we take the bus to the Standing Stones of Stenness and Ring of Brodgar. Sandra Miller accompany us to see the monument. One and half kilometre from Standing Stones of Stenness are inline with Ring of Brodgar. Standing Stones of Stenness is a megalith that form a circle about 44 metres in diamenter, consisting of 11 stone and is left now is 4 stones. The stone destruction caused by the war and the expansion of agricultural land. Ring of Brodgar also form a circle with 103 metres in diameter. According to radiocarbon, the sites has been around since 3100 BC. Preservation of this site was conducted with not doing any excavation until it known is there anything lying below the site. Archeological research using geophysical survey before conducting excavation. Northwest from Ring of Brodgar, 8,26 km in line Skara Brae, the prehistoric village which is estimated from the same period of the Standing Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar. Patricia Long accompany us to see the museum and excavation site. To understand more about the village and how they live, the museum build a replica of the house so the visitor can feel the condition inside the 3100 BC house. Skara Brae is currently facing the problem of erosion, because of its location facing the North Atlantic Ocean. Next, Patricia bring us to see the Skaill House, a house of William Watt who unearthed the Skara Brae, the 7th Laird of Breckness. This house have been changed into museum and opened for public in 1997. This house originally built by Bishop George Graham in 1620. This house held many types of collection collected by the family since 17th century from Neolithic and Iron Age finds, the Bishop’s bed, Captain Cook’s ceramic plates. This house is owned privately by major Malcolm Macrae.

After lunch, we move to Kirkwall to visit St. Magnus Cathedral and Orkney Museum. In St Magnus Cathedral, Fran Hollenranke join with us and told the history of the cathedral and how they do the renovation without omit the historical value of the cathedral and the object inside. For the renovation, they use the stone from the same source when the cathedral was first built. This was done to maintain the authenticity of the cathedral. The last place to visit is Orkney Museum where Sheila Garson the curator of the museum will accompany through the museum. Orkney museum is one of accredited museum in Scotland. The accredited museum have code of conduct to be followed. This museum also increase their collection through loaned collection. Broad range of collection from neolithic age, bronze age, viking, history of St.Magnus cathedral and Kirkwall history culture i.e The Ba’, a ball game that held on Christmas Day and New Years Day.

This morning activities begin with breakfast as usual, after breakfast we went to Standing Stones of Stenness by bus. At 09:00 am we arrived at Standing Stones of Stenness and met Sandra Miller, she is one of Historic Environment Scotland Rangers. The places we visited this morning are Standing Stones of Stenness and Ring of Brodgar which are relics of the Neolithic period. Sandra tell us about the history of both places, the relation between, and also the relation to the other Neolithic sites in Orkney. From Sandra we learned about the reconstruction effort, conservation, and promotion which done by Historic Environment Scotland and its partners.

Figure 1. Sandra (Ranger) explanation at Standing Stones of Stenness

Visit II: Skara Brae and Skaill House

The visit to Ring of Brodgar ended at 10:30 am, then we went to Skara Brae. At 11:00 we arrived at Skara Brae and met Patricia Long as our guide. At Skara Brae, we visited a Neolithic museum, a replica Neotlithic house, and an ancient village of farmers community which aged about 5.000 years old. Skara Brae museum have a nice, quite informative, and interactive display. The replica house has good detail and the ancient village sites is very interesting. We headed to Skaill House after Skara Brae visiting to see the home of William Graham Watt, 7th Laird of Breckness, who unearthed the World famous neolithic village of Skara Brae in 1850. After that, we enjoyed lunch in Skara Brae Cafe. The concept of the museum cafe which also sells souvenirs are a great concept.

After lunch, we headed to St. Magnus Cathedral which is located in Kirkwall. There we met Mrs. Fran Hollenrake whom tell us mainly about the history of St. Magnus Cathedral. This Cathedral known as the “Light in the North” was founded in 1137 by the Viking, Earl Rognvald, in honour of his uncle St. Magnus. The Cathedral belongs to the people of Orkney and its doors are open to all. This place is not just a church hall – it is a meeting place, a visitor centre, an arts venue and a place for quiet contemplation. Building on the facilities offered by the 19th century St Magnus Hall, The St Magnus Centre has meeting rooms, a Projector Room where the film “The Saga of St. Magnus” is shown and a large hall which can serve as a great venue for events such as receptions, dances, socials etc (www.stmagnus.org).

Figure 3. Group photo after explanation session by Mrs. Fran Hollenrake at St. Magnus Cathedral

Visit IV: The Orkney Museum

Our last visit in Monday is at the Orkney Museum with Sheila Garson as our guide. The Museum tells the story of Orkney, from the Stone Age, to the Picts and Vikings, right through to the present day. There is a large collection of old photos and activities to amuse younger visitors. The Museum’s collection is of international importance and it has a changing temporary exhibition programme. The Orkney Museum used to be a house – Tankerness House. For three centuries this house was the home of the Baikie family of Tankerness, whose estate gave the house its name. It opened as a museum in 1968 and is an A-listed building. The Baikie Library and Drawing Room gives the visitor an idea of how the house looked when it was a family home (http://www.orkney.gov.uk/Service-Directory/S/orkney-museum.htm). Before travel back to Stromness we have free time to explore or enjoy Kirkwall for about 30 minutes.

Figure 4. Entering the Orkney Museum

Group 4

Members:

Euis Hermiati

Debora Christin Purbani

Septiani Dian Arimukti

Muhamad Muhaimin

Visit to Archaeological sites, St. Magnus Cathedral, and Orkney Museum

October 17th 2016

Orkney Islands, Scotland

Today we held a visit to some places, Standing Stones of Stennes, Ring of Brodgar, Skara Brae, Skaill House, St. Magnus Cathedral, and Orkney Museum.

Sandra Miller from Historic Scotland Ranger Service, guided us in our visit to Standing Stones of Stennes and Ring of Brodgar. Archaelogical study found several theories about the function of those monuments. Standing Stones of Stenness might be a place for gathering, held a ceremony, or even funeral and wedding. Archaeologist still not sure for what purpose Ring of Brodgar was built.

Patricia Long was our tour guide when visiting Skara Brae and Skaill House. Skara Brae is a Neolithic site that has been established since 3100 years ago. This site is located in Skaill Bay. It has a visitor center which has some facilities such as: reconstruction of Skara Brae, rest room, café, receptionist, gift shop, and Skara Brae Exhibition as an introduction before entering the site. Patricia Long guided us to four places in Skara Brae area. First, she invited us to Skara Brae exhibition. She explained us about the Neolithic village and how its occupants may have lived. Second, we moved to the replica house. The replica house based on House 7, the best-preserved of the village’s house. The replica house provided a very good idea of what it was like and enable us to gain an impression of life in one of these houses. Third, we went to Skara Brae sites. There are 11 building in a site where building 8 have function as workshop, perhaps for making tools from flint and chert. And the last, Patricia Long marched us into the Skaill House, then explained us about some important rooms in the house and relationship between house and Skara Brae sites. Skaill House is located near Skara Brae. In the past, Skaill House was owned by the person who first unearthed Skara Brae, William Graham Watt. The excavation took a long time. The building now becomes a museum.

In the afternoon we visited St. Magnus Cathedral and Orkney Museum in Kirkwall. Fran Hollinrake, told us the history about the cathedral building. The cathedral was built in 1137 by St. Magnus’s nephew from Norway, later on became Earl and also a Saint. Since there was an order to eradicate every saint’s bones, St. Magnus’s bones were hid inside the pillar, and St. Magnus’s nephew’s bones as well inside the other pillar. The bones were found over 500 years later when the building was under renovation. The box is now exhibited in Orkney Museum and the bones were put back into the pillars.

Sheila Garson, the curator of Orkney Museum, explained about the collection in Orkney Museum. The collection in the museum including artifacts from Skara Brae, Tomb of The Eagles, some Stromness Museum’s collection, The Kirkwall Ba’ Game collection, etc. This museum was founded in 1970s, using Tankerness House for exhibition. Besides organizing permanent exhibition, this museum also organize temporary exhibition such as summer exhibition (May – September). Every temporary exhibition has different theme and is filled by external participants. Accreditation is an important aspect to maintain reputation, funding, etc.

GROUP 5 SUMMARY REPORT

Member:

WahyuDwianto

Tri Haryoko

Lia Hapsari

Yasper Michael Mambrasar

Visit to Stones of Stenness and Ring of Brodgar

This is a first visit today. Stones of Stenness and Brodgar are two archaeological sites are adjacent and located on the outskirts of the loch. We met with sandra miller (Tour Guide), which describes the history of the Stones of Stennes and the Ring of Brodgar, management and conservation efforts to maintain this site. visit ended with a group photo in front of the site sandra miller.

Visit to Scara Brae and Skaill House

A second visit to Scara brae and Skaill house. Scara brae and Skaill hose are in one environment. SCARA brae is erkeologi sites on villages and homes in antiquity while Skaill abab house is home to 17th built by Bishop George Graham (Bishop of Orkney 1615-1638) was the person who discovered the site Scara brae. visit Scara brae and Skaill house hosted by Patricia Long explaining the history of Scara brae and Skaill House, parts of Scara brae and Skaill house, as well as conservation efforts to maintain. after the visit, we had lunch at the cafe located in the brae SCARA then went on a trip to Kirkwall.

Visit to St. Magnus Cathedral

visit St. Magnus cathedral hosted by Fran Hollenrake which describes the history of ketedral St. Magnus, function cathedral antiquity and the present as well as conservation efforts to preserve the cathedral St. Magnus as one of the historic sites in Orkney. In Hollenrake Fran visit showed us parts of the historic cathedral as the discovery of the bones of st. magnus. visit at the cathedral of St. Magnus ended with a group photo Fran Hollenrake in the main hall of the cathedral.

Visit to Orkney Museum

A visit at the museum orkney moderated by Sheila Garson. shela describes the collection of artifacts obtained from sites that are in orkney, other collections such as the collection of birds and other animals that come from orkney, the history of the game ba ‘, as well as the management of the museum. visit ends with a group photo. while waiting for the shuttle bus, we are given the opportunity 30 minutes to see the city of Kirkwall.